


So You Wanna Be a Rift Mage?

by aionimica



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Magic, Possible smut later on, Rift Magic, Teacher-Student Relationship, not really - Freeform, sorta - Freeform, time to learn about magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-11-13 09:16:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11181666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aionimica/pseuds/aionimica
Summary: The Inquisitor wants to be a rift mage and classes aren’t going so well. And she just so happens to know a very good tutor.





	1. Chapter One

“Solas?”

 His back was to her, but she watched as his ears pricked just so as she said his name as she walked into the rotunda. He didn’t turn   but it didn’t matter. She walked up to the desk and ran a finger along the spines of books stacked nearly up to her chest, stopping at one towards the top. There it was.

 “Can I help you, Inquisitor?” he said when she said nothing else and looked at her at last.

 “You know you don’t have to call me that.”

 A single eyebrow rose for a moment before his head inclined and he allowed, “Eliara. What can I do for you?”

 The book slammed shut echoing across the rotunda’s walls and a few ravens cried up above them. She walked around, glancing at the walls before she stopped and turned to him. “Cassandra and Leliana found some, well, it was really nice of to do this, they really didn’t have to but, they did and now they’re here and I have to learn and it’s been a problem because–”

 She hadn’t even noticed she had begun pacing and she certainly didn’t notice the tall elf standing in the way unable to step to the side before she ran face first into his chest. A slight _oofmph_ escaped his lips as he stepped back slightly, but held them both up. She did manage to get a good deep breath of him - the clean linen of his shirt, old leather, herbs and roots under the skin - but _gods_ this was not how that was supposed to happen.

 “I am so sorry,” she stammered.

 His lips pursed for a moment, a smile hidden at the corner of his mouth. Heat curled up the back of her neck and into the tips of her ears which had fallen back, threatening to hide in her hair.

 If he even noticed, he didn’t show it. “What did they bring?”

 “Trainers,” she spat, her embarrassment vanished in the wake of her resurrected frustration. “Specializations for the Inquisitor. Knight Enchanters and Mortalitasi and well there is this one other one that I’m just not really sure what she is, but she knows about rifts and well.”

 He waited patiently, watching pointedly as she held the book to her chest and Ellaria sighed. She might as well just dig this hole now.

 “And I was wondering if you could help me.”


	2. The Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliara Lavellan needs a teacher. Solas doesn't exactly need a student, but he's not necessarily opposed to the idea.

She wasn’t quite sure where she stood with Solas.  

To be fair they had spent a lot of time together over the past few months. Quite a bit of time, if anyone was counting. He traveled with her wherever she went, across fields and across mountains - no matter where they went, he never far from her side. He became a constant familiarity, a reassurance that Eliara wasn’t sure why she hung onto. 

Wherever she looked, she saw him there, and as the world shifted and cracked and tore, she found that she had to admit that she didn’t want him anywhere else. 

She was a long way from home and this world she stumbled into was different from any that she knew. Rifts shattered skies and threatened to swallow her hole, filled with monsters and demons and self-named gods. Creatures long lost the world and only remembered in fairy tales tried and time again to swallow her whole, but it was in those moments that Eliara found that she wasn’t alone and it was only by the strength of her friends that helped her to stand up again. 

And Solas? Solas was no different. From the very beginning, he was there. He helped her close her first rift - sometimes at night, she dreamed of what it would have been like if he hadn’t taken her hand that day, if he hadn’t pulled her close and raised her palm up. For days after that, her hand burned, but it wasn’t the Mark that kept her awake at night. Even after that, he traveled with her across the world. They climbed mountains and rode at each other’s side and no matter what happened between them, they were sent out together time after time. 

If asked, Eliara would admit that they ended up working well together. Most of the time at least. And that’s how she found herself following him down the stone halls of Skyhold. 

“So. A rift mage.”

Elliara eyed him suspiciously at the too-polite tone in his voice. He didn’t quite meet her eye, his hands clasped behind his back. She hurried to keep up with his pace. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Most find the rift mages unpredictable and unsettling. Circles, from my understanding, had a tendency to forbid such studies, at least to the degree that it would take to make an effective rift mage. Now, to find one willing to teach is quite the rarity.” He paused for a moment to examine a tapestry hung in the corridor and Eliara nearly stumbled into his chest. His lips nearly turned up as he turned to look at her. “And I think you said the other day, what were your words exactly… ‘The sword is pretty cool?’”

A blush slowly rose in her cheeks to the tips of her ears. “You think I’d be a better Knight Enchanter?”

“I think you’d be good at whatever you decided,” Solas said and she was momentarily surprised by the earnest honesty in his tone. Carefully he stepped away and took the leather book from her hands and turned it back and forth. “The Knight Enchanters are very well respected among the Circles and across Thedas. The ones I’ve encountered are exceptionally powerful. Just as well, necromancers are not to be underestimated and even has its own uses from time to time.”

“You’re trying to convince me of something,” she said, forcing the blush away.

“I am not,” he said lightly with a gentle shake of his head. “This type of study takes weeks, months, sometimes even years. It is a course that will set you on a path that will direct you in our times ahead. I am only wanting to make sure that you make such a decision with all the information --”

“Solas.” Eliara interrupted him with the sound of his name and for a moment his ears drifted back just so before righting themselves, the reaction passed. She took the book back from him and delicately fingered the edges. He watched her as she did, his gaze lingering on her hands before looking at her with guarded curiosity as she said, “ I made my decision. I want to be a rift mage.”

In the future she would think back to the way he looked at her in that moment, the eagerness and earnestness locked and hidden behind suspicions as he slowly asked her, “Why?”

She would never -- could never -- forget. But she also couldn’t forget the way that she felt the edge of the Fade. It stretched out to her in sleep and pulled her in and held her close as she walked. It hummed in her staff, the potential waiting there for her to reach out and take it and hold it and make it hers. 

The awe she felt as she saw the Knight Enchanters spar with spectral swords was close to indescribable. But she didn’t want a sword. She didn’t want the title of the Circles. The power of the world she could only touch in her dreams was what sang her name. Ever since she could remember, she felt the edge of the Veil against her fingertips as she walked and at the end of her staff as she summoned and Elliara had always wanted to know what would happen if it listened to her will.

Now she would know.

“I want to be able to do what you can,” she admitted. “I’ve seen what you do to the Venatori and the Red Templars, how you summon meteors and stone fists and pull them back to earth through the Veil.”

“That’s from years of practice--”

“Do you think I became a mage in just a day?”

Solas paused, his lips pulled into a thin line, not necessarily in displeasure, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was written on his face. His ears were back, just so, his brows not hard rather furrowed in curiosity. 

“Forgive me. You are more than a capable mage,” he said quietly. “I did not mean to suggest anything different.”

She tilted her head until she was meeting his gaze and his eyes drew back to her. “And you’re an apostate unlike any I’ve met before.”

She hadn’t met many before the Conclave: the few that came to her clan were given some food and water and sent on their ways. After the Inquisition, she met more, but they came and stayed out in the camps in the valleys of the Frostbacks. Few stayed in Skyhold. Some of his first words to her came back:  _ all mages are now apostates, _ he said in the ruins of Haven, but some were still more apostate than others. 

“That sentiment goes both ways,” he murmured. 

Elliara stepped back, suddenly aware of how small the corridor became and how close they’d become. The elf nodded, his hands behind his back, professional and proper again. “So what do you need from me, Inquisitor?”

She stared at him again, one eyebrow rising as her jaw slacked just so. He cleared his throat, an odd blush rising on his cheeks. She had asked him countless times to call him by her name, but he continually refused. So it was again. 

She cleared her throat and stepped aside. “You’re a rift mage, and I want you to teach me how to become one. I want to learn everything and I want you with me every step of the way.”

“You’re sure of this?” he asked.

“Quite.” Compared to most of the decisions Eliara made since the Conclave, she had never been surer of a choice before. 

“Very well,” he said clipped and distinct. “Follow me.” 

She followed him as he led her down, across courtyards and through passageways that Eliara was sure she had traveled at least once, but probably not more than twice. Tapestries and the grand statues of the main hall faded until there was nothing but bare rock and the occasional worn statue that marked the passage of halls. Somewhere in the distance the smell of baked bread and fresh spice lingered in the air, but it drifted and faded until all that she could smell was the cold, dank smell of cool, freshly dug earth. 

And then, he stopped. A key went into a lock and Eliara glanced up as a drop of water splashed on her head. She blinked and shook her head as she followed him in, but then stopped. The light changed. Torches flickered and leather bound books lined the walls and shelves in an expansive library situated in the bowels of Skyhold, its precious hoard hidden from the heat and light of the sky above.

“You brought me to the library?”

“I’m operating under the assumption that your trainer wants you to study before we begin. And if the Seeker and Leliana had trainers brought in, they can’t have all the recommended materials.” Solas frowned. “What did you say her name was again?”

“She didn’t give me one.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah, she was… She gave me the basics. A foundation,” she said, but the dissatisfaction was written plain across her face.

Solas appeared to take no notice, his attention bound by the leather tomes and a small desk he kept going back to in the corner. “An unsure foundation is just as poor a place to start,” he said as he carried a few of the books and stacked them on the desk.

Soon, it rivaled his own collection in the Rotunda. 

“She mentioned that before we began with actual spells that I needed a study on rift magic, a few Venatori tomes and some ring velvet.”

“I can help you with the studies,” he said, flipping open a cover of a book before putting it back on the shelf with a scowl. He did that a few more times until there were about seven books, varied in levels of thickness, written in every dialect across Thedas, from the delicate hand of Orlais to the rigid scrawl of Ferelden. There were even a few marked with the emblems of the Imperium, the far left hand-script slant of Antiva. One even had the distinct green pages of the cities of the Free Marshes and for a single moment, Eliara’s heart tore.

Distantly she heard him continue, "--to Dorian about the Venatori tomes, he always seems to be in a mood to go hunting, and the velvet should not prove to be too much of a difficulty--"

“How did you get so many books?” she asked in quiet wonder, everything else he said falling on silent ears.

“I’ve had Josephine reach out to some contacts at the universities in Orlais and they’ve been kind enough to send me some of their research.” He tapped the book she held close to her chest. “That one is a personal favorite, I must admit.”

Eliara smirked. “Holds all the secrets of the Fade within its pages?”

Solas chuckled. “If it helps you with your studies, then I guess so.”

She dropped the book next to the stack of others and slowly sat herself down in the chair. “What now?”

“What now? Now, you read, Inquisitor.”

“How much?”

“Until you’re done.”

“All of it?” she asked, her attempt to keep the resignation from her voice failing. 

“Unless you would like to begin straight with the spells and instead of propelling rock  _ towards _ your opponent, you fire it back into your own face.” Solas leaned against the stone wall of the library and crossed his arms. “Just imagine our dear Ambassador’s reaction if I brought you back to Skyhold with a black eye and missing teeth. Not to the broken jaw, and that is if it doesn’t hit you square on.”

“Fine,” she said with a huff.

Solas smiled, just so, and turned. “I leave the rest to you, Inquisitor.”

“Would you stay with me? In case I have questions, I mean,” she amended quickly as he looked at her suddenly, his face taking on a harsh and rigid gaze. He already began to leave, the flickering torches casting long shadows over his robes and furs, but at her words, he came back to a standstill.

“I must check to make sure I’m not needed elsewhere, but.” He looked over his shoulder and paused. “But I will come back. And I will help you in any way I can.”

Elliara smiled and nodded once. “Thank you.”

He blinked once and turned away, but not before the shadow of a smile returned and he said, “You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still working on this fic and I have a nice bit of the next few chapters planned out. I hope you all enjoy <3
> 
> (also I'm playing Trespasser for the first time this week so I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be an angsty mess so you might get the next chapter sooner than later)
> 
> For those of you that love Dorian, you should definitely wait around to see him in a little bit ;)

**Author's Note:**

> i'm trying out writing shorter chapters to see if it helps me be better about writing fic :) so i hope you all enjoy and I hope i'll keep writing this


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